Calgary real estate caps record year with strong December finish – Calgary Herald

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A strong final month of 2021 capped off a record year of home sales, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board’s monthly report released on Tuesday morning.

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There were 27,686 units sold in the last 12 months in Calgary, a 72 per cent increase over 2020, 44 per cent higher than the 10-year average.

Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for CREB, said they were expecting a strong year of sales, building off of 2020, but this surpassed any prediction they had for the year.

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“One thing that was not factored into the pandemic is not just that we have low rates, but the amount of savings that people were having by really not spending on other goods, at least for those that weren’t impacted by COVID,” she said. “A lot of that translated, I think, into people getting into the housing market.”

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The previous high water mark for sales in a year was 27,192 set in 2006, amidst an oil boom. Meanwhile total volume sales almost doubled from $7.4 billion to $13.6 billion.

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Lurie said that due to the five years of recession that pre-dated the pandemic, there was a pent up demand on the real estate market and when interest rates dropped, the flood gates opened.

The benchmark price rose one per cent over November to $451,567, eight per cent higher than last year’s final benchmark. This was just below 2015’s record high.

In December alone, there was 1,737 sales, up from 1,199 in December 2020, with sale volume up 55 per cent to $830,245,656 from $535,619,133 from the same month the previous year.

The two most impacted sectors on price were detached and semi-detached houses, but there was growth across all four types of units.

Calgary finished just below 2005’s record sales for detached housing sales with 17,038, but this was still 40% higher than long-term averages. The report said a lack of supply on the market likely contributed to the previous record still standing. There are only 898 units in inventory at the beginning of 2022, a historical low.

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There were 2,571 semi-detached sales in 2021, a gain of 55 per cent year-over-year and 47 per cent above long-term trends. This sector took off as the inventory in the detached market dried up and presented as a more affordable option. Benchmark prices in this sector jumped by 9.86 per cent year-over-year in December, alone, to $432,400 for the month.

Row houses continued to show strong growth. Total sales increased to 3,936 in 2021, up from 2,145 in 2020 with benchmark prices finishing up 6.05 per cent year-over-year at $294,983, but this was still nine per cent below the previous high watermark.

Apartment condominiums saw the slowest growth due to inventory remaining saturated. But there was still progress made on this front. Total sales increased to 4,141 units from 2,393 while benchmark prices increased 2.47 per cent to $251,358, but remain 14 per cent below the record prices set in 2014.

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Location still plays a critical role in price in Calgary’s real estate market. For a detached house, the east is about half the price as the west at $367,000 compared to $738,200. A semi-detached house in the city centre will run $751,400 but cost $302,900 in the east.

Lurie said what will happen in 2022 all depends on how much new stock comes into the market, because that will influence price.

“We went through a period of almost six years where, depending on when you bought, for some people prices had really been trending down for most of that time frame,” she said. “Our market is an opportunity for many people who can take advantage now of those price gains we have finally seen, especially as price gains have recovered for most product types.”

Prices have also increased in surrounding areas as well, but stock is becoming harder to find. In Airdrie, prices increased by 13.2 per cent to a benchmark of $398,100 but inventory is down to 82 units to start the new year. Cochrane is up to a benchmark of $460,300 up 9.5 per cent and Okotoks is at $476,300 up 5.9 per cent.

jaldrich@postmedia.com

Twitter: @JoshAldrich03